1. Field
The present invention generally relates to implants and more particularly to bodily implants and their methods of delivery and placement into a patient's body for the treatment of fecal incontinence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fecal incontinence is a disorder that involves involuntary passage of feces through an anal canal of a patient. The disorder may be caused by weakness or damage to internal and external anal sphincters muscles or levator ani muscles surrounding the anal canal of the patient's body. Usually in a normal human body, the internal and external sphincters and levator ani muscles support a rectum and may help provide the rectum an ano-rectal angle that sustains the feces in the rectum until voluntary defecation. However, as stated previously, weakness or damage to the normal pelvic-support systems causes the ano-rectal angle to distort thereby causing involuntary passage of feces.
Treatment of this problem has centered on pelvic floor rehabilitation, dietary changes, and/or surgical treatments. One of the surgical treatments includes a sling procedure involving placing an implant such as a sling into a patient's body around the anal canal.
Surgical devices and procedures exist that focus on supporting a portion of the rectum by using a bodily implant. For example, the bodily implant may support an anterior portion of the rectum in one case. In another case, the bodily implant may, for example, support posterior portion of the rectum, and the like. The implant is thus configured to surround only a portion around the rectum.
In addition, one or two arms extend from the bodily implant and are tied or coupled to one or more portions of the body tissues, thereby securing the bodily implant with the body tissues. In some embodiments, the one or two arms may not sufficiently distribute tensioning forces around the rectum. In some other embodiments, the implants of partial support of the rectum may not conform to the anatomy and therefore may often lead to incomplete fecal continence. Consequently, the stability of the bodily implant may be reduced and the implant may not function appropriately. Therefore, the current devices and procedures may not sufficiently support the rectum to effectively treat fecal incontinence. Further, the stability of the implant may be a concern with the current designs and structures of the bodily implants.
In accordance with the foregoing, there is a need for a device and a method that facilitates the placement and support of a bodily implant within a body of a patient to treat fecal incontinence.